Moony
by Nenifer121
Summary: Always wondered how the other marauders came up with this nickname for Lupin - now you get to find out...


**Disclaimer:** All characters, places, and other details are taken from the Harry Potter series, written by J. K Rowling. I have not created them.

**Comments:** Here's my little story, tell me what you think!! Erm... It's also the story that Harry read, in chapter 1, of another of my stories, called 'Harry Potter and New Beginnings'. To read this, just click on the pen name and then on the story. Oh, and that one is more likely to be updated. Still a chance for this, but, it will just be individual stories, about the marauders.

'**Moony'**

"Is your mum better now? Remus?"

"What, er... yeh, a bit"

"Enough for you to come back to Hogwarts then?"

"Yes," Remus paused; "Listen, I'm feeling a bit tired. I think I'm going to go to bed, for a bit, before I tackle that Transfiguration homework McGonagall set us."

Just as Remus was heading up the spiral staircase to the boys' dormitories, James shouted "I'll wake you up, in two hours if you aren't up by then."

Sat on the best chairs in Gryffindor common room, next to the fire, Sirius, James, and Peter were discussing an article in a book about broomsticks, Sirius had instigated an argument about flying, saying that Peter was so scared of flying that a rat could beat him with his feet on the floor.

"I am not THAT bad!"

James decided to join in the argument. "You are, remember that first flying lesson?"

"I knew you were going to bring that up! Just because I am not as good as you two! And I suppose that the broom kept flying away had something to do with it?"

James could not answer, and Sirius was having trouble breathing, let alone answering his friend.

"Well you have to admit, it was funny, Peter." Remus had come back down with his Transfiguration books. "Come on you lot, shouldn't we be doing this?"

"Come on, we haven't had a decent rest in ages!" Sirius protested.

"It won't take that long, and then you get the whole weekend to do what you want, we could have a look in one of the rooms on the third floor that we haven't been in yet."

"Are you sure you are OK? You look very pale."

Remus was wide-awake, sat looking out of the small window next to Peters bed, looking at the moon. He was thinking about his friends, _I have to tell them soon, but not yet_.

He paused and listened to his friends breathing, slow, so at least they slept well, he thought bitterly.

"Remus, you still not asleep?" murmured one of his friends

"No."

"You really ought to; you've been looking dreadful for days."

"Thanks James! I'm just thinking about my mum" he paused, took a deep breath, opened his mouth, shook his head, and said, "Dad sent me an owl, she's not well again."

"Oh, sorry."

"Don't worry, I think I'll go home this weekend and go and see her."

"OK, listen try to get some sleep."

"Night James." But his friend had already fallen asleep.

Sirius and James were walking across the grounds together; they could tell it was close to winter, as the ground crunched beneath their feet. When the two boys came to a halt in front of the Whomping Willow, they were staring at different things; a cloud shifted in the sky to reveal a full moon, and cast an eerie light over the tree. Sirius was looking at the flailing branches of the tree, while James was gazing at the moon in the sky. "Full moon," he muttered inaudibly.

"Listen Sirius, we should be getting inside, it's really cold."

"Are you sure you're not afraid of being caught by a teacher?"

"As if... it's just that I want to tell you something."

Sirius snorted, "You can't get much more private than here, mate." And catching the look on James face, he added, "But, if you want we could go up to the common room, there can't be that many people about at this time of night."

"I was thinking of taking advantage of the empty dormitory, what with Peter in the hospital wing, again, and Remus away..."

Without another word the two boys headed up the seven floors of Hogwarts castle, up to Gryffindor tower, spoke the password, and entered through the hole in the wall. It was nearly empty; there was a group of first year girls sat by the fire, when they saw Sirius two of them blushed, all of them giggled.

"So what's up?" asked Sirius.

Without saying a word, James shook his head and pointed at the staircase to the dormitory. A frown appeared on his friend's brow, _it must be important_, he thought, _he normally would not care if people overheard_.

Two minutes later, they were in the middle of a whispered conversation; the one Remus Lupin had been dreading, when Sirius raised his voice in shock.

"What do you mean, she's not ill?"

"Shhh, keep your voice down! You see, I was starting to get worried for her, and I wrote to her, and I asked if she was any better, she wrote back asking what I was talking about, she was fine, and hadn't been ill for a long time."

"You think Remus isn't telling us something?"

"That's exactly what I think, Sirius."

"Do we say anything?"

"Yes we do, but not yet, and don't tell Peter, he will blurt it out, and you know he isn't very diplomatic."

_I've got to tell them soon_.

The four friends were sat in the back of the last class of the term, just before Christmas, Defence Against the Dark Arts. Peter was flicking through _The Comprehensive guide to Defence against Magical Creatures_ more specifically the chapter names.

"Hey look, the biggest topic we have left to cover is the one about Vampires and Werewolves, do you think we'll do that this year?"

"Don't be so stupid Peter," James had just won the game of exploding snap he and Sirius had been playing.

"You think they are going to teach us about werewolves in the first year? Don't be a prat, or I'll write it on your forehead."

"They won't want to scare the girls!"

"Aww, I really wanted to learn about werewolves, don't you?" This is what Peter was like; always wanting to know what James and Sirius thought.

The pair of dark haired boys glanced at each other, and then after an even quicker glance at Remus, who wasn't paying attention, said in unison, "Yes, it'll be really interesting."

By the end of the lesson, Sirius and James had silently made an agreement; they were going to confront Remus. They were going to ask him why he was lying about his mother, and then leave the conversation to go where it willed, to confront the real problem, or if Remus preferred, to skirt around the issue, still. There was, however, one small issue to take care of, Peter.

As Peter, and his fiends were walking back form Defence against the Dark Arts, two of the three boys behind him pointed their wands at his back and muttered a couple of words. Of course, James and Sirius, were not worried that the spells that they had found in that lesson wouldn't work, they cold get any spell to work first time, they were first in the year at Charms.

Remus, seeing his friend on the floor, with tentacles sprouting from his face, cried out in alarm; "What did you do that for?"

"Calm down, we have our reason, and believe me you will thank us later. Now let's find a teacher, and tell them someone attacked him, so he will be taken to the hospital wing."

"Remus, do you fancy coming up to the dormitory with us? Now."

It was the emphasis, more that the words coming out of Sirius mouth worried Remus. _This is it_, he thought.

James was sat on his friend's bed, his hand playing with a quill, showing how nervous he was. "Remus, we don't really know how to say this"

"Don't, I know what you are trying to say, and ask me, and what I want to know is how long, how many people, and what you are going to do."

Sirius hesitated, and thinking that he should help his best friend out said "As to how long there are two answers, just now, if we are right, -"

"And about two months" James paused, "I think we should stop skirting around the issue, Remus."

"Alright," he paused, took a deep breath, and said in a defeated tone; "Yes, I am a werewolf."

There was a very long silence between the three boys. They were all reflecting on what had just been said.

"I suppose I should explain. I was only eight when I got my bite; my mum and dad did everything to keep it a secret. People found out when I told my best friend; I was hated, and discriminated. I didn't tell you because I did not want it to happen again. You three are the best friends I have ever had, and I am fairly popular with the rest of the school. I did not want it to end."

Sirius and James looked at each other; they had not been expecting their friend to react like this: there were tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Right," said Sirius, in a falsely cheerful voice. "Now that's the awkward bit over with. I think it is only fair that we tell you how much we knew, and how we knew it."

"Well, I guess it started when you were asleep, Sirius, when you and I were talking. Remember Remus? Well, when you said that your mum was still not well, I got a bit worried, and within a week or so I sent an owl to her, telling her to get well soon." His gaze shifted to the fire, "I burnt the letter she sent back. It said that she was perfectly healthy. I did not want anyone to know. A week or so later I told Sirius here, and that night we decided to find out why you were lying to us, and why you were leaving every month."

"We know that it was really sneaky to go behind your back, but we had to. We wanted to know why you'd lie to your best friends. We checked the dates you went home. And then the last time, only a couple of days ago, we used magic, a locating spell, to tell us where you went, and to confuse us even more, it was to the Whomping Willow!"

"Enough of the boring bits, Sirius, what we want to know is all about it, have you ever bitten anyone? What's it like to be a werewolf?"

It was nearly four in the morning when the boys stopped taking. The last thing said was not to tell Peter, yet.


End file.
